Information Sciences

The programme in a nutshell

The Master’s in Information Sciences trains you to become an outstanding professional who is capable of independent and team problem solving with regard to the design, application and practical use of complex information systems in organizations.

We have re-organized the program of the Master Information Sciences for the academic year 2011-2012. The new program is given in collaboration with the UvA program "Information Studies - Human-Centered Multimedia". This UvA master program admits students with a similar bachelor as the VU IMM bachelor. The program is the result of intensive discussions over the past year, involving both tutors and the student members of the Curriculum Committees (OLCs).

The program is set up in such a way that you can still follow the majority of the courses at the VU, if you prefer. VU and UvA courses are scheduled on different weekdays, to prevent travel overhead. New programs always carry risks; we promise to handle all problems resulting from this in a fair manner, making exceptions where necessary. We thank you in advance for your cooperation!

New curriculum master Information Sciences

The Master program Information Sciences 2011-2012 contains the following parts: 

Regular courses: 30 EC 
UvA and VU both offer 5 courses of 6 EC for this program. Each student selects a minimum of 5 courses from this list. 

VU courses 

• E-Business Innovation (period 1) 
• Business Semantics Management (period 1, new)
• Knowledge and Media (period 2)
• The Social Web (period 4, new)
• Ontology Engineering (period 5)

UvA courses

• Intelligent Interactive Systems (period 1)
• Multimedia Information Systems (period 2)
• Internet Information (period 4)
• Mobile Systems (period 4)
• Visual Analytics  (period 5) 

The only obligatory course for VU students is E-Business Innovation. VU students are advised not to follow the Internet Information course, as this has too much overlap with the VU bachelor course Information Retrieval. For more details see the schedule below.

Academic research: 30 EC
This part consists of three elements:

• Research Methods course (6 EC, period 2&  5)
  This is a general course addressing both qualitative and quantitative methods for performing academic research. This course is given twice per academic year, once by UvA and once by VU. You need to complete this course before you can start with the thesis.
• Thesis Design (6 EC, period 3 or 6)
  With your selected thesis supervisor you prepare a thesis proposal and workplan, indicating which research methods you plan to use. The thesis design should include a study of relevant literature.
• Thesis (18 EC, second semester)
  This is the actual thesis work, based on the thesis design. The resulting thesis can be a regular thesis or a 10-page academic paper; this choice is left to the student, in consultation with the supervisor. 
  

Overall Structure

• The criteria for entering the Master program remain the same.
• Students can start twice a year: 1 September or 1 February. The program has a duration of 1 year.
• To prevent travelling overhead VU and UvA courses are scheduled on different days of the week:
  - VU courses: Monday, Thursday
  - UvA courses: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
• The course Research Methods is given twice, once by UvA (period 2) and once by the VU (period 5)
• All other courses are given once per year.
• Existing master students IS can include elements of the new program, after consultation with the master coordinator.

Schedule

Schedule for VU students starting in September 2011

• Period 1:
  E-Business Innovation (VU, obligatory)
  Select one course from:
  Business Semantics Management (VU)
  Intelligent Interactive Systems (UvA)
• Period 2:
  Research Methods (UvA, obligatory)
  Select one course from:
  Knowledge and Media (VU)
  Multimedia Information Systems (UvA) 
• Period 3:
  Thesis Design (obligatory) 
• Period 4&5:
  Thesis (first part, 12 EC)
  you can choose how to schedule this:
  - 6 EC in both period 4&  5, or
  - 12 EC in period 5
  Select two courses from:
  The Social Web (VU, period 4)
  Mobile Systems (UvA, period 4)
  Internet Information (UvA, period 4, not recommended for VU students)
  Ontology Engineering (VU, period 5)
  Visual Analytics  (UvA, period 5)
• Period 6:
  Thesis (final part, 6 EC)

Schedule for students starting in February 2012

• Period 4:
  Select two courses from:
  The Social Web (VU)
  Mobile Systems (UvA)
  Internet Information (UvA, not recommended for VU students)
• Period 5:
  Research Methods (VU, obligatory)
  Select one course from:
  Ontology Engineering (VU)
  Visual Analytics  (UvA)
• Period 6:
  Thesis Design (obligatory)
• Period 1&2:
  Thesis (first part, 12 EC) you can choose how to schedule this:
  - 6 EC in both period 4&  5, or
  - 12 EC in period 5
  E-Business Innovation (VU, period 1, obligatory)
  Select one course from:
  Business Semantics Management (VU, period 1)
  Intelligent Interactive Systems (UvA, period 1)
  Knowledge and Media (VU, period 2)
  Multimedia Information Systems (UvA, period 2)
• Period 3:
  Thesis (final part, 6EC) 
  
  

Course descriptions

Further information about the Master’s programme in Information Sciences and course module descriptions can be found online at:

Study guide